tasmād anyad bhagavad-bhajanam api nāpekṣate |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 237)
“Therefore [i.e., because Hari can become pleased to reveal himself simply in response to guru-bhakti], even other service to Bhagavān is not required [for a sādhaka fully engaged in personal service to his guru].”
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana |
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo’vyavasāyinām ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.41)
“O son of the Kurus, the resolute intellect (buddhi) is one [i.e., one-pointed] in this regard [i.e., in regard to practicing bhakti-yoga]. The intellects of the irresolute, however, are many-branched and endless [i.e., divided between numerous different pursuits and driven by an endless number of worldly desires].”
ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer
upāsane sve hṛdi chidravat sataḥ |
svasyātmanaḥ sakhyur aśeṣa-dehināṁ
sāmānyataḥ kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.38)
[Translated according to Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī’s commentary:] “O boys of the asuras, what great exertion [i.e., difficulty] is there in worship of Hari, he who is present like space in one’s heart and is the inherent self and common friend of all embodied beings? [Therefore,] What [is the use] of accumulating objects of the senses?”
bādhyamāno’pi mad-bhakto viṣayair ajitendriyaḥ |
prāyaḥ pragalbhayā bhaktyā viṣayair nābhibhūyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.18; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.552; Bhakti Sandarbha: 115)
“Although obstructed [i.e., attracted] by objects of the senses (viṣayas), a bhakta of mine who has not [yet] conquered the senses is generally not overwhelmed by objects of the senses (viṣayas) by virtue of vigorous bhakti [i.e., by virtue of bhakti, which possesses the capability to overcome the influence of residual affinities (vāsanās) for varieties of sensory experience].”
athāsya tad-veśyā-vaktrāc chrī-rādhāyāḥ śrī-kṛṣṇānurāgādi-śravaṇa-jāta-lobhatvād rāgānugā-mārgeṇaiva bhajanam | tatra rāgānugā-mārge’nutpanna-rati-sādhaka-bhaktair api svepsita-siddha-dehaṁ manasi parikalpya bhagavat-sevādikaṁ kriyate | jāta-ratīnāṁ tu svayam eva tad-deha-sphūrtiḥ | asya tūtpannā madhura-jātīyā ratiḥ krameṇānurāga-daśāṁ prāptāsti, atas tad-deha-sphūrtiḥ sadaiva |
(Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 2)
“His [i.e., Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura’s] bhajana was based solely on the rāgānugā-mārga because of his intense desirousness (lobhatva) produced by hearing about Śrī Rādhā’s anurāga and so forth for Śrī Kṛṣṇa from the mouth of the courtesan [i.e., Cintāmaṇi]. There in rāgānugā-mārga, even by sādhaka-bhaktas in whom rati has not [yet] manifested, service and so forth to Bhagavān is performed by meditating in the mind upon one’s desired siddha-deha. For those in whom rati has manifested, however, manifestation (sphūrti) of that deha [i.e., the siddha-deha] occurs of its own accord [i.e., without requiring any specific effort from the sādhaka to meditate upon it]. His [i.e., Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura’s] manifest rati of the madhura-type, however, gradually attained the stage of anurāga [even though this is normally impossible for anyone within saṁsāra apart from those who participate directly in Bhagavān’s prakaṭa-līlā], and thus manifestation of that deha [i.e., the siddha-deha] became constant [in his mind].”
ye sarva-nairapekṣyena rādhā-dāsyecchavaḥ param |
saṅkīrtayanti tan-nāma tādṛśa-priyatā-mayāḥ ||
anyeṣām iva teṣāṁ ca prāpyaṁ ced hṛn na tṛpyati |
aho nanda-yaśodāder na sahe tādṛśīṁ gatim ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.1.21–22)
“If the attainment of those who, without regard for all of this [i.e., all the aforementioned sādhyas and sādhanas of karmīs, jñānīs, and other bhaktas], desire only servitude to Rādhā and engage in saṅkīrtana of his name [i.e., the name of Kṛṣṇa, the relisher of the rāsa dance], filled with such fondness [i.e., the extraordinary prema of the gopīs, the recipients of the very essence of Bhagavān’s grace], is like that of others [i.e., is the same as that of the Yādavas, Pāṇḍavas, and so forth], then my heart is not satisfied. Aho! I cannot tolerate such a destination [being that meant] for Nanda, Yaśodā, and others [i.e., for the people of Vraja led by Nanda and Yaśodā, since an equal result for those who are great and those who are lesser is not befitting].”
na hi sādhana-sampattyā haris tuṣyati kasyacit |
bhaktānāṁ dainyam evaikaṁ hari-toṣana-sādhanam ||
(Subodhinī-ṭikā of Vallabhācārya on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10)
“Hari is not satisfied by anyone’s performance of [alt., abundance of, or excellence in,] sādhana. The humility of bhaktas is indeed the only means of satisfying Hari.”
vicitra-līlā-rasa-sāgarasya
prabhor vicitrāt sphuritāt prasādāt |
vicitra-saṅkīrtana-mādhurī sā
na tu sva-yatnād iti sādhu sidhyet ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.168)
“That variegated sweetness of saṅkīrtana can be truly attained [only] by the manifest, variegated grace of Prabhu [i.e., Bhagavān], the ocean of variegated līlā-rasa, and not, rather, by one’s own exertion.”
anuṣṭhānaṁ hy upadeśāpekṣaṁ, prema tu tat-prasādāpekṣam iti |
(Tattva Sandarbha: 46)
“Practice [i.e., sādhana-bhakti] is dependent on instruction, but prema [i.e., prema-bhakti] is dependent on his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] grace.”
tatas te bhojayitvānyā vayasyā dāsikā api |
sa-gaṇaiḥ saha saṁhṛṣṭaiḥ sveśā-śeṣānnam ādatuḥ ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 20.74)
“Thereafter, they [i.e., Tulasī and Rūpa Mañjarī] fed their contemporaries and servants and then with their companions delightedly ate their Īśā’s [i.e., Rādhā’s] remnants.”
